What's on your plate?

Keeping in line with all the fun and interactive threads asking about your most recent halls, items you have your eyes on, what you're currently wearing, what's your hair routine, and more, I've decide to branch out and ask:

"What's on your plate?"

The beauty world doesn't just stop at skin care and cosmetics, it also goes hand in hand with your overall health and well-being, so with that, I'm curious to see what we're all chowing down and snacking on be it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, or inbetween!

For those with apps that help count calories or to those who just want to keep a log, here's a place to share, possibly find and share some recipes, and even tips on maintaining a balanced diet.

Don't just share food items, but even drinks! I'm a huge fan of tea and at least have a cup of green tea a day (anti-oxidants) and drink plenty of water.

I totally pigged out on free pizza and wings last lunch, which usually means I get 3 extra pounds to my weight for the week, but I followed it up with 1.5 lbs of strawberries (and nothing else) for dinner and didn't gain any weight! I think I discovered the secret to eating free food/buffet and not get fat! Altho if I can bounce like balloon, that's pretty cool too.

Re: What's on your plate?

Back again! Not going to lie, I've been slacking on cooking lately and have been hitting up restaurants for crawfish and crab legs, sushi, and giant burritos (spinach tortilla loaded with cilantro rice, roasted corn, sour cream, and grilled chicken).

-Red potatoes (I normally buy a bag of them, use them for wedges, home fries, and mashed potatoes), in this case I used 5 of them

-Olive oil

-Chili powder

-Onion powder

-Fresh ground pepper

-Coarse sea salt

-Rosemary (I like to grind it up in my palms to release the flavor more and to where it's smaller pieces)

1. Preheat the oven at 425 degrees.

2. Chop up the washed potatoes into wedges and toss them on a baking sheet.

3. Drizzle wedges with olive oil and give them a good mix, coating all pieces with oil.

4. Sprinkle the chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and rosemary over the wedges, mixing them up to distribute the spices. I like to go off smell, so after that mixing, take a whiff and see if you need to add more seasoning.

Re: What's on your plate?

Rather than brave the restaurant scene yesterday on Valentine's, I made dinner for my boyfriend and I. Nothing fancy, I cooked up the last huge porkchop we had (baked with spices) and stir-fried some shiritaki noodles with veggies. I also made a steamed pork spare ribs dish that my family has made for forever that my boyfriend happens to love!

I wanted to share the recipe with you guys! To my fellow-nonmeat eaters/nonpork eaters, you can use the marinade to season things like tofurkey or other forms of protein.

First things, first...ingredients (photo 1):

-Port spare rib pieces (you can get pork ribs cut into long strips from the butcher and then cut them into invdividual pieces at home)

-Seasame oil

-Soy sauce

-Oyster sauce (you can omit this if you like, I add it because it brings a bit of sweetness to it)

-Sugar (you can also use honey or just rely on the oyster sauce)

-Onion powder

-Chili powder

-Salt

-Pepper

-Corn starch (I have Tempura batter as it's virtually the same thing)

As you can see, in photo 3, there's a jar of sauce called Spare Rib Sauce, it's virtually the same as the ingredient list above, comprising of soy sauce, spices, and sugar, only it's a thicker consistency. You can use this instead as the bulk of your marinade (jazzing it up with more spices and the corn startch and oil) or add a bit to the marinade you put together yourself.

In photo 2, you can see all the ingredients added together. From my past posting/thread about chicken noodle soup, you know that I'm not a super stickler on amounts as it's dependant on how much pork you're cooking up. Go off of smell, let that be your balance if you need to add any more of the ingredients to the marinade. After mixing it up, you can let it sit in the fridge to further soak in or move right ahead to cooking.

In photo 4 you see a large pot with water and an upturned ceramic shallow bowl. This is a great way to make your own steamer if you don't have one! Turn the shallow dish upside down as you'll rest a slightly larger one with the pork on top and add enough water to come up to the first line of your fingertips when you stick your fingers down into the pot.

From there, set the slightly larger dish on top, cover with a lid and cook at medium on the stove top, if your stove knob has numbers at 5-6 is good. These cook for a minimum of 30 minutes, even up to 45 if you have more or just want the meat to come away from the bone more.

Photo 5 is the completed product.

You can add things into the marinade like ginger, garlic, or even sesame seeds, even mushrooms!

Re: What's on your plate?

I so need to make this! I brought Hoisin sauce (seafood sauce) just because I feel like my cupboard need more asian-ness, but I haven't had a chance or any recipes to use it in. Maybe I will use it with this recipe (I usually don't cook meat since I'm paranoid about bacteria and lazy about washing dishes). =X